Saturday, December 18, 2010

I was thinking about this Tip.it article which talks about variability Jagex started to introduce into Runescape quests. Tried to imagine where it could lead and how such variability could enhance questing experience. And then I thought, wait a second, this is really pushing the boundaries of MMO questing. Has anybody else done it?

Well, naturally, I went out searching. Nope, no one did it before. Jagex is indeed leading the way in this area. All possible types of MMO quests are represented in Runescape, but what is more important apparently Runescape quests (while still within the same limits as the rest of MMO quests) are the best out there!

Just a few quotes from various "MMO questing discussions" (not from RS forums!):

"My first mmorpg was runescape, i loved the quests but when i moved to wow clones mmorpgs i tough: “what the hell this quests are very stupid and too easy” i really felt they were the same,” kill this kill that kill this and go collect that” Because while you are doing a runescape quest you are knowing the story step by step When you are doing a wow quest you know the story of the quest right from the beginning"

"Runescape has the best quests ever(No I am not saying it has good graphics-.-)Lots of story line and the quests are interested plus theres LOTS of quests.I don't know how much quests there are but if I took a (TRUTHFUL) guess I would say like 100-150 quests. May not seem much but the quests are a bucket load of fun. I don't think theres even 1 single quest on runesape that is like "kill 50 of these and return to me" ^^ the quests can take a long time too but there still fun. Quests in other games are boring and don't last long."kill 10 of these and get 10 of these ores" they last like 10 minutes. I've known players(with lives) spend 1 week on a quest."

Also take a look at this post about "lack of variety in MMO quests". The part that cought my attention was:

"So how do we solve the problem of 'deja vu' questing in RPGs? Sadly I don't believe we can. Quest types in RPGs will always be limited to the same four types. There is however hope in reducing the questing 'deja vu factor' through clever disguises. I've seen techniques like creative story telling, appealing quest UIs, cinematic cut scenes and clever NPC interaction used to make receiving a quest more entertaining and enjoyable. "

All of the techniques listed above are being used in Runescape quests (almost in every one of them).

So yes, I believe that we are getting the best MMO quests in Runescape. Of course, I have biased opinion about Runescape in general, but in this case I think it's rather objective one.

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